


It’s not a dialogue if the other person doesn’t answer

by potsugi



Category: Gintama
Genre: M/M, Sappy, spoilers ? yea spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 08:19:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3242762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potsugi/pseuds/potsugi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He stays away from Takasugi’s room, after all a sleeping samurai is as good as a fly and serves no entertainment (or; five times Kamui visits Takasugi’s hospital room).</p>
            </blockquote>





	It’s not a dialogue if the other person doesn’t answer

**i.-**

As soon as Kamui lets go of Takasugi’s backside, he falls flat on the floor, face down. Kamui would laugh, but there’s a ridiculous amount of blood pouring out from, well, everywhere. He does smile, looking down at the dying samurai; somehow it’s a beautiful sight (even more beautiful considering he is still kind of alive, despite all his injuries. Samurai have a will to live so strong, Kamui wants to kill them all).

The Kiheitai rush to Takasugi and Kamui walks away in silence.

Next thing he hears is that Shinsuke is in a coma and no one knows if he will wake up. Kamui tries not to feel jealous that he wasn’t the one to put him on that bed, but doesn’t dwell on it too much. Jealousy is a human emotion; and a flawed one too.

Kamui looks at him, connected to machines and not moving.

“Something like this won’t beat Shinsuke.”

Another flawed emotion is faith.

**ii.-**

Two weeks pass and Takasugi doesn’t wake up, not even after his injuries have mostly healed. Kamui’s injuries healed after two days, and he is reminded of how frail humans really are, strong will or not.

He stays away from Takasugi’s room, after all a sleeping samurai is as good as a fly and serves no entertainment. But after sneaking into the Kiheitai’s food supply Kamui finds himself wandering around the ship until he is right in front of Takasugi’s door. In space there is no day or night, but he’s pretty sure mostly everyone has gone to sleep.

Kamui walks in still chewing on cheese fingers and notices that after two weeks, Takasugi is thinner and all in all looks rather pathetic. He feels a pinch of disappointment that is familiar somehow, and Kamui remembers a woman with red hair lying in bed all day and looking thinner and thinner and weaker until she disappears.

He scoffs and turns around to leave, but still hears the steady _beep-beep_ of Takasugi’s heart rate even after going back to his own room.

**iii.-**

Kamui notices that the dirty underwear girl talks to Takasugi on a daily basis. Why? Shinsuke doesn’t hear her, right?

“It seems that some comatose people are able to hear, even if they cannot respond in any way.” Henpeita answers to a question Kamui never asked out loud, but they both continue to look at Takasugi from the hallway. “Although I believe it is more comforting for the patients’ relatives rather than for the patients themselves.”

Kamui has no idea why this creep is talking to him.

“Say Takechi-san, aren’t you a samurai too?”

“W-well, yes. I’m more of a feminist, but you could say I am a-”

Kamui throws Takechi far into the other end of the hallway.

“Oh, but you aren’t the strong kind of samurai, are you? Bummer, it’s been getting boring lately.” When Takechi doesn’t respond Kamui sighs and briefly wonders if Takasugi is going through the same kind of boredom.

Later, after Dirty-underwear girl has left, Kamui is standing outside the room again. Once or twice he talked to his mom while she was asleep, and it never really helped much. Still, before opening the door he wonders what exactly to talk about. Then he sees Takechi’s unconscious body is still at the end of the hallway.

“Shinsuke, you should get rid of that lolicon.” Silence meets him where usually there would be smoke and cynic laughter. But that was to be expected. “I had no idea there were such weak samurai.”

Kamui stays still, feeling uncomfortable, and soon realizes he had never felt such stiffness around Shinsuke when he was awake. Even sooner, he realizes he hates it.

He wants (Takasugi to wake up) the boredom and the silence and the damned _beeps_ to go away.

**iv.-**

Clearly, all humans are idiots. Talking is not going to help Shinsuke if all he does is sleep. Has he even eaten? Kamui doubts it.

“Captain, he is in a coma; he can’t chew.”

“Then I guess you’re gonna have to chew it for him, right, Abuto?”

Kamui opens the door and throws Dirty-underwear girl out while Abuto gives her an apologetic look. When she’s gone, Kamui holds Takasugi’s chin firmly (and imagines how he would react if he was awake; it would _at least_ give him the chance to have a sparring match, or to take a closer look at his missing eye) and stuffs a rice ball the size of his fist into Takasugi’s half open mouth.

The heart rate machine marks quick beeps.

“See, he likes it!”

“Captain, I think he’s choking.”

**v.-**

Turns out some comatose people can’t breathe on their own and need a ventilator to pump air into their lungs. And apparently if you take the tube off they start chocking. So Kamui isn’t allowed to visit Takasugi anymore, not that it stops him.

Three weeks later word reaches them that the Shogun is dead, and the Shinsengumi disbanded by the orders of Hitotsubashi Nobunobu. Bansai has to remind him Nobunobu is the one he almost killed.

“So he’s the new Shogun, eh” Kamui does remember Takasugi’s words (“He’s just one of my limbs. A tool.”), but back then he only thought he could finally get to fight a samurai or two.

As he walks down the hallway towards Takasugi’s room (he feels funny, having to do this in secret because he almost killed him by mistake only like, once) he supposes their relationship is summed up very well in those same words. Tools and limbs. One day they’re not going to be useful for each other anymore; although you don’t just cut off your own legs and arms.

In light of this realization the room goes a lot quieter.

“So it seems your little weak pawn is finally king.” Kamui gets closer to the bed but looks at the heart rate machine instead “It’s time to overturn the board, right? What we saw was just a glimpse of hell down there. We still have a lot to sightsee.”

(It’s more fun to dance with a batshit insane idiot that a plain old idiot.)


End file.
